Cabin in the Snow
by Imhilien
Summary: Chloe and Lucifer's car breaks down on a snowy road and they have to take shelter in a cabin for the night. Written for Lucifer Fluffuary 2020.


Lucifer Fluffuary 2020 – Prompts: #1 Bed sharing, #4 Fireplace, #13 Snowed in, #23 Sharing a meal. Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Lucifer TV show. No copyright infringement is intended; I am only borrowing these characters.

Work Text:

"Why did we go again where it snows, Detective?" grumbled Lucifer.

As the devil, he can keep himself warm on the inside, but every time he draws breath, the cold air rushes in and disorients him. The wind blew through him as if he was only wearing linen.

"We've got a high number of solved cases, so people outside our jurisdiction have started asking for our help," Chloe said patiently.

They had just closed a case up in the mountains, but on the way home their car had broken down on a snowy road. Knowing they had to look for proper shelter before it got dark, they had both grabbed their travel bags and headed into the woods. Luckily, they had both brought cold-weather coats with them although Lucifer was wearing a custom made, top-of-the-range dark blue coat that Chloe knew she could never afford, or justify spending the money on.

"Well, only pay attention when someone from a tropical island needs our help next time, Detective," he mumbled.

Chloe sighed, feeling as if it was too much effort to roll her eyes. Flakes of snow were falling and the sky was looking dark.

Lucifer glanced at her sideways in concern. Her face was looking a bit pinched from the cold; it was important to get the Detective somewhere warm and cosy for the night. He peered again through the woods and saw a bulky shape of a cabin in the distance.

"Look, Detective, that could be our salvation," Lucifer exclaimed with no trace of irony in his voice as he pointed towards it.

"Thank goodness," Chloe said with relief at the thought of shelter and they both hurried towards the building.

With his long legs, Lucifer quickly took the lead and Chloe didn't mind. She knew he had this weird skillset with locks and for once she was happy to look the other way while he did his thing.

Sure enough, once she had reached the porch, Lucifer had already successfully opened the door and entered. It was an abandoned cabin with a smell of unopened rooms to it. The cabin was probably ignored by the owners half the time, Chloe thought as she thankfully followed him in. She was just glad to be out of the snow and wind.

Chloe tried the light switch and luckily there was light, though the bulb was weak. It revealed a fireplace and a mustard coloured couch (that had seen better days) to the side with a brown throw rug over one end. In a corner of the cabin, there was a tiny kitchen with a small table with two chairs nearby. A door in a wall led to the most basic of bathrooms. A double bed was at the back of the cabin with a quilt on the top with a design picked out in faded red fabric.

There was a container of dusty looking firewood next to the fireplace and Lucifer wasted no time in getting a fire lit. Once it got properly going, they took off their coats and put them on one end of the couch to dry out.

"Thank you," Chloe said with feeling as she stood as close as possible to the fireplace next to Lucifer, feeling warmth returning to her limbs.

"You're welcome," Lucifer responded. "I'll go and see if there's anything edible to eat. Wish me luck, Detective."

Lucifer went to the kitchen with its ancient stove and with much muttering and tutting, he brought out some soup tins and a pot from some cupboards.

"Hot chicken soup for dinner, Detective, just what the devil ordered," he said firmly. "Now sit on the couch and keep warm, chop chop."

"Sounds good, Lucifer," Chloe said with a smile and Lucifer's eyes warmed before he started preparing a meal for them both to eat at the table.

The soup was filling and afterwards, Lucifer washed the dishes and Chloe dried them. It felt pleasantly homely, she thought, even though they were snowed in and far from home. The fire was still crackling merrily and the cabin was warmer.

But the sleeping arrangements for later had to be addressed, Chloe thought with some wariness. They were work colleagues, friends… more than friends? Sometimes she wasn't sure.

"I'll take the couch tonight, you can have the bed," Chloe said briskly.

There was no way Lucifer could sleep on the couch, she thought. Most of his long legs wouldn't fit on it and he would end up looking like some undignified stick insect.

"You can't sleep on that couch, Detective. You'll be committing a fashion crime," he said with genuine horror in his voice, before hesitating.

"Detective, it's going to be a cold night. Sleeping on that bed, both of us fully clothed, may be the only sensible thing to do," he said guardedly. "I would be a gentleman."

Then he huffed.

"Now look what's happened, I just used the word 'sensible' in a sentence. This is what comes of being where it snows."

It was on Chloe's lips to say no, absolutely not sharing the bed. The wind then chose to howl outside and through a gap somewhere in the cabin, which made her reconsider. If they were both fully dressed and sharing the bed as work colleagues for practical reasons… it was the sensible thing to do.

"You're right. We have to be practical in situations like this," Chloe agreed.

Lucifer looked relieved and then he flicked a disapproving look towards the bed.

"I hate to think what the thread count of the sheets are," he fussed.

Chloe rolled her eyes. Honestly, her partner.

They sat on the couch in the meantime and made small conversation. Through a window that had a patina of dust on it, Chloe could see the snow falling steadily. Once it was time to turn in, Chloe went to the bathroom while Lucifer drew together over the fire an old-fashioned wire fire screen that would stop sparks from jumping out but still provide warmth.

Once she returned, she turned down her side of the bed, relieved to see warm blankets were available under the quilt.

Lucifer went to the bathroom and Chloe took off her boots and got into bed with her clothes on and her hair still in a ponytail, curling up to keep warm.

She eventually heard him return and turn off the light, leaving the cabin in darkness except for the glow from the fireplace. She found herself holding her breath as she felt the bed dip as he got in fully clothed, heard a low mumble from him as he tried to make his long body comfortable enough for sleeping. He kept a careful distance between them both.

There was an awkward silence and then Chloe heard him say, "Good night, Detective," in a low voice.

"Good night, Lucifer," she replied softly.

She thought she would have been awake for ages but drifted off to sleep quickly.

Chloe wakes in the night when it's cold… the fire has gone out, leaving only cold ash and the temperature going down. There is some light in the room from the moon that is nearly full.

Lucifer has woken and realises what has happened as well. Half-asleep, Chloe heard him mutter something under his breath as he eased himself carefully from the bed, obviously trying not to wake her.

She silently watched as he walked toward the fireplace. After pulling aside the fire screen, he bent down to look at the ashes, grabbing the poker and giving them a stir. He placed some more wood in the fireplace and the fire flared back into life as if it had never gone out in the first place.

Lucifer's tall form looked as if he was outlined in fire. Chloe blinked, her subconscious trying to tell her something important about him. He had… he was.. he had just coaxed the fire back into life. It was lucky there were embers that only needed the right amount of oxygen to light up again.

Chloe closed her eyes as she heard him put the fire screen back to how it was and return to bed. Eventually she felt snug and warm again which helped her drift off to sleep.

She woke the next morning alone in the bed and sat up, aware that she had messy hair and her clothes were crumpled from being slept in. She smelt something savoury and sniffed in appreciation.

"Mmm," she said hopefully.

"Rise and shine, Detective," Lucifer sang from the kitchen.

"Morning, Lucifer," Chloe said, stifling a yawn. "Something smells good."

"It's chicken and vegetable soup this time for a change."

Even though he had slept in his clothes too, Lucifer looked immaculate and as if he had been up for ages.

Chloe was pleased to see though it had stopped snowing during the night, with sunlight coming through the window. Fire was crackling merrily in the fireplace.

"Thank you. How long until it's ready?" she asked.

"Not too long, Detective."

"OK."

Chloe got out of bed and went into the bathroom, freshening herself up as best as she could.

She returned just as Lucifer was serving up the soup. It was a bit odd having soup for breakfast, but she wasn't turning up her nose at a hot meal.

"Good news, Detective," Lucifer said briskly as she sat down at the table. "While you were sleeping, I called and arranged for someone in an SUV to come and pick us up at our car in about an hours time. Someone will come afterwards to fix the car and bring it back to us in LA."

It sounded like quite a bit of money had changed hands during the call. Not for the first time, she wondered how wealthy he was.

"That's great, Lucifer," Chloe said with relief and he smiled, visibly pleased with himself.

"How was your phone able to make the call?" Chloe asked, curious. Her phone had struggled to get one bar when she had looked at it last night.

"I went up a tree, Detective," he answered matter-of-factly.

Chloe blinked. It was too early in the day for Lucifer's weirdness.

"All right, I'm glad you got a signal then," she said approvingly. That was the main thing.

After they had had breakfast and tidied up, it was time to depart. Lucifer left a wad of money in the cupboard to cover the cost of food they had used. The bed was made up and the fire was put out.

Once they were bundled up, they left the cabin and stood on the porch for a moment looking at the newly fallen snow.

"If Trixie was here, she'd be insisting we all have a snowball fight," Chloe said fondly.

"What, and get my clothes wet with snow? How dare she," Lucifer grumbled but she heard the humour underneath.

"You're just saying that because you know we'd beat you," she teased.

"Beat the devil in a snowball fight? How dare you, Detective," he huffed.

Chloe chuckled to herself as they made the journey back to their car and civilisation.

FINIS


End file.
